People // David Garrison // Blog

The fourth post from a piece I wrote on the way back from SXSW. A panel on photography got me thinking about the relationship between musicians and the people who capture images of them. It made me wonder where photographers see Not-Thems fitting into that relationship. 

The Artistic Equation: Creation + Experience = Art
Artists have any number of visions of success: from economic winfalls and public recognition to changing people's lives and influencing other artists. Some modernists [gasp!] even say they do it for creativity's sake - to get an image out of their Selves. In many ways, it's a weird notion, that we each have unique and intensely personal reasons for doing art. 

Not surprisingly, the flip side is also true: we each have distinct things we appreciate about art; distinct things we expect art to do for us; distinct things we look for in art. And, to make things worse, we usually have more than one expectation of art.

You may, for example, want art that's bluntly political (e.g., Andy Warhol's Mao) at the same time that you want art that merges primitive and classical form (e.g., Modigliani's Nu couché de dos). With little inherent contradiction, we love seemingly random combinations of genres like jazz and death metal or funk and Bollywood.

There are two related points worth emphasising here. First, while people are different, there's almost invariably overlap in what we appreciate. And the implication is that my making art (at the extreme) purely as a means of disgorging into the world the blurred image of the evening I broke up with someone doesn't mean you won't appreciate my work as representative of the romantic soiree you spent with someone else.

Second, identifying what's likely to resonate with people still only helps solve for one half of the artistic equation. That's both the easier half and the harder half. While we're fascinated by the artistic process (the first half of the artistic equation), we tend to focus on people's appreciation of art (the second half of it).

Make the Bands the Recipients of the Shots
So why do you as a photographer (or musician) care about all this? Because the images you take (or pose for) are the product of your position on the equation. Applied to a backstage or offstage setting, for example, shooting solid candids gives you shots that bands themselves want. Get shots they're proud of or want to give their moms. That's probably a good way to get them to like you being around.

Many photographers think that, so long as shots get them the insights into the music and players they're were hoping for, they're all good. But there's the observer to consider. Post-modernism eschews the idea that you can create art in a vacuum. In the end, I tend to think that, since you're kind of stuck thinking about the person who's going to see your work, you might as well take a second to think about what they'll like about it - even if you immediately discard what they want as not consistent with your artistic objectives.

I suppose, when it comes down to it, the point is that you have choices to make. Sure there's the same old one contrasting internal and external objectives, but there's also another one that relates to what you'll do to get access to the artist. At its core is the idea of degrees of "selling out". If you want access to, a relationship with, or the trust of the artists you're capturing on film, don't forget that there's always the band's perspective to consider. Why do they want you there? Why does the audience want you there? Is it worth taking shots that they want and will covet in order to get deeper into the experience of them as musicians?

So, assuming you buy all this, what does one do? Thinking about what others are looking for - stepping away from your own objectives and perspective - is unnatural. You won't get it right away. You may never do it a lot. And you will never entirely do it. But you can get the idea in a venue you already know: the concert itself. Next time you're taking a shot of a musician, turn your head and watch the audience. It's an eye-opener; always different.

Take a moment to watch the people. What are they watching? What are they looking for? Why are they there? What do they notice aside from the band? Each other? The building? Take a moment to play on this, if only for commercial gain. The gist is that, even as a crowd, we have egos. We like to know that someone else cares about what we think, what we want, what drives us, what we aspire to. We like to see ourselves reflected in others and others' work. Take a picture of the crowd. And see if it doesn't give you a perspective outside your own.